


Champion

by Kitsune_Heart



Series: Paragon [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Blanket Permission, Diamond!Steven, Drama, Gen, Jasper Redemption (Steven Universe), Podfic Welcome, Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond Theory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-10-20 14:50:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10664922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitsune_Heart/pseuds/Kitsune_Heart
Summary: Jasper spent millennium mourning the loss of her diamond. Blaming Rose Quartz for the shattering. Longing for vengeance, even if she must take out on her enemy's strange "Steven" form.Even if she must ruin herself in the process.But then she is healed. And her diamond is returned to her, in the body of this Steven Universe. And Jasper finds that she can no longer take her vengeance, but must serve as protector for this half-human, half-diamond child, as he stumbles through gem society,  diamond teachings, and the pain of an exile from the only home he has ever known.These are the years we missed in "Paragon." And Jasper has much to say.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Note: To understand this story, you must read at least chapter 1 of ["Paragon."](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9532025)
> 
> At present, this story falls entirely within canon. If that changes, I will make note of it here and as a note at the beginning of the next chapter release.

Out, back, _free_. Yes, _free!_ Run! Run? No, _fight._ Fight, always. Fight good. Fight _best_.

(It's all you’re good for, you off-color _filth_. Now shut up and get on that ship, or I’ll shatter you like the rest of your geode!)

Ah! Too close! No touch! Big? Very big. Don’t care! _Fight_. Bite, claw, tear, _win_! Fight, fight _me!_

 _(_ That’s right. Get back up, JZ5. Oh, are you tired? Do you need to _sleep?_ Isn’t that what you worthless _Earthlings_ do?)

No, no, no, stop. Do not want. Stop sound. Stop it. Stop song. Feel strange. Stop, _stop, stop singing!_

(Are you _ungrateful,_ you _wretch?_ Yellow Diamond _saved_ you. Would you _rather_ she left you on Earth, to be Corrupted?)

Stop. Stop, please. Don’t want. I don’t want. I don’t...I don’t want to...feel...this way.

Don’t make me _feel_. _Please._

 


	2. In which Jasper stands her ground

Jasper stood directly before the door lock, hands clasped behind her back, her knuckles almost touching the interface. Any gem who wanted inside would have to move her, and she would not be moved. Let them shatter her. She was the last line of defense for the diamond waiting inside.

She was...the only line of defense.

Unless you counted this strange pink beast lying at her feet. _On_ her feet, actually. And perhaps she _should_ count this _Lion_ among her diamond’s defenses, but only a day before, she had... _resembled_ that creature. Quite closely. And Jasper would very much rather not think of it as any sort of... _equal_.

Especially when it _snored_ like that. What a disgrace.

She let him stay, however, in spite of his noisiness. It wasn’t that she _couldn’t_ get rid of him, oh no. It wasn’t like she’d tried to shut him in the room with Pink Diamond, _several times_ , only to turn around after the door had closed to find him sitting before her once more, looking upon her with those wide, blank eyes.

And, after all, it was traditional to keep two gems on guard, in case one might need to leave their post to inspect something suspicious. Something like....

Jasper felt her senses snap into a greater focus. It was not conscious, and it took another thirty seconds for her to realize what had sent her into high alert, but, eventually, she heard the soft tapping of feet—no, of _heels_ on the floor, and then an interchange of voices, still too distant to be intelligible. But already close enough to be familiar.

Her fists clenched on one another and she held her head higher. Jasper looked forward, unblinking, and waited for them to pass. _Please_ , let them _pass_.

“—barely worth the effort, Iris Agate. Those quartzes of yours could use a little hardening up.”

“Oh, agreed, Regal Champion. Perhaps, when they re-form, they will be a bit more _cautious_ about the way they fight.”

“I don’t want _cautious_ ,” the first speaker growled, the sound seeming to almost vibrate through the floor. “I want a _challenge_.”

“Yes, Regal Champion. But, until we are back on one of Yellow Diamond’s primary colonies, I’m afraid the prasiolite squadron is the best I can offer. Disgraceful as they are.”

“Ugh. Makes me wish the diamonds would find something they needed settled. I’ve been _itching_ for a rematch with Topaz. At least _her_ punches _feel_ like they’re hitting.”

“Perhaps best to not speak aloud of such things,” the Champion’s companion whispered, but, by now, the pair of gems was just around the corner, and there was no way for Jasper to block their words out. “After all, Yellow Diamond is still somewhat irri...oh.”

Jasper had to fight down the urge to bring her arms about in the traditional diamond salute. She did not need to. It was not required, anymore, now that the mark on her chest had been shifted from a bright yellow to an almost-forgotten pink. But she could already _feel_ the burn of a cane on her arms, her neck, her thighs. She was _supposed_ to salute, but _no, no_ , this was _not_ her agate, anymore!

“Oh, calm down, Iris Agate,” a massive, nearly all-black gem chuckled, crossing her arms as she looked down the bright corridor. There were several white bands about the gem on her chest—a smooth, triangular thing, and blacker even than the gem’s skin, as if the stone pulled in all the light in the room—but it was Jasper who felt like a target had been painted upon her skin. She felt...dwarfed. Even with Jasper’s mane of wild hair, she was easily two heads shorter than this great, dark gem. Broader, certainly, but Jasper’s form felt like trickery when put up against the inherent power of the onyx. “It’s just that little Earth runt of yours.”

“She’s not _mine_ ,” Iris Agate hissed, shooting a warning glance at her companion. “Remember, Onyx? She belongs to that... _human_.”

Jasper's nails dug into her hands. She would not speak. She didn’t have to. She could just stand here. They couldn’t do anything to her. She just had to watch the door.

“Hah! That’s right!” Onyx nudged Iris, elbow only reaching so far down as to bump one side of the gem’s loose topknot. “I guess she _would_ be impressive to one of _them_.”

“Hmmm. Indeed.” Iris sniffed, the lines under her eyes and about her mouth deepening. Reaching up, she pat her vibrant rainbow of hair back into place. Just a little tapping, and the messy strands separated themselves out by color, creating a pale wheel of shades about the bun, emulative of the many tints that waved across the Agate’s otherwise pale-yellow skin. “I suppose that’s a warning for you. Spend enough time on the _Earth_ , and you really will be nothing better than the _dirt_ you came out of.”

“Well, you did spend a thousand years there losing a war,” said Jasper, and, instantly, her skin went cold and tight.

The glares of Yellow Diamond’s Champion and top agate were familiar to the Beta gem. As was the sight of Iris Agate’s banded gem going aglow on her right hip, the manager’s hand brushing over it to produce a long, thin rod. And, oh, so was the sound of that baton singing through the air before it struck into the agate’s palm, a brief _flish_ of electricity shooting from the tip.

At Jasper’s feet, the pink beast stirred, opening a single eye.

“It appears I have been _remiss_ in my discipline, Regal Champion,” Iris Agate hissed, stepping forward. “First I allow twenty of our best prasiolites to barely serve as a diversion for you, and now this _disgusting_ bit of _slag_ shows how little she learned under my tutelage.”

“Oh, don’t beat yourself up too much, Iris,” Onyx rumbled, leaning against one of the corridor walls. She twitched her head to the side, ushering a shock of short, white and black-streaked hair out of her eyes, but up into its swept-forward style so emulative of her own diamond. Onyx watched the jasper and agate with deep fascination. “You did your best for the brute.”

“Well, yes,” Iris crooned, rubbing her baton across her loosely-gripped palm, pursing her lips as she looked up at the subordinate quartz. “But whatever will this new... _human_ think of my training regime, if his little jasper starts _mouthing off_ whenever she feels like?”

Jasper’s knees shook. Once, and then she commanded her muscles to stay tight. Strong.

But it was enough. Iris Agate’s gaze flickered down, and then back up again, into Jasper’s face. She smirked. “You know, Regal Champion, I think it would be a _kindness_ to this human if I just....”

Iris reached out with her baton, tapping the tip just under Jasper’s chin, lifting it up, exposing the quartz’s throat. There was a tiny crackle of electricity at the touch, a soft smell of ozone rising up Jasper’s skin. A barely-there sting.

“Just reminded this gem of her place,” Iris crooned, eyelids fluttering.

Down, between the two gems, Lion yawned and rolled to his paws.

Iris Agate moved back swiftly, looking down on the strange creature as if she had just noticed it for the very first time. Onyx, too, narrowed her eyes at the feline, but made no move to interfere.

Lion rose with all the languid grace of any cat, domesticated or wild. He bowed down low, spine stretching, the fur along his back bristling up for a moment before settling back down as he put his entire body through one long wave. Thusly limbered-up, he looked to Iris Agate, to Onyx, and then to Jasper, blinking slowly.

“Oh!” Iris Agate smiled. “I see. That must be one of your Corrupted geode-mates!”

Jasper bared her teeth, showing just as many as the now-yawning animal before her. “This _beast_ is no comrade of mine!”

Lion cut his yawn of with a sharp “Yawp?” Tilting an ear, he cast a sideways glance at Jasper, nose twitching.

Jasper glared back, daring the beast to defy her words.

Snorting, Lion turned away, nose nearly touching his rump as he turned, and took a few trotting steps down the hallway. Towards Onyx, whose eyes narrowed, teeth baring as she pushed off from the wall.

A confrontation was not the cat’s intention, however, it seemed. With a brief roar, the creature opened up one of its strange pink portals, directly in front of Onyx, who leaned back, brows drawn down in perplexity, though not quite alarm. With a great gathering of his strongly-muscled hind legs, Lion leapt through the ring, which faded away in seconds, leaving Jasper suddenly aware that she was now _actually_ alone in the hallway with Yellow Diamond’s Champion and her chief agate.

And that the agate still held out her baton.

Iris snickered, turning her gaze away from the place where the cat had disappeared, and back to Jasper. “Are you _sure_ it’s not from your geode, Jasper? I’m unconvinced, what with how quickly it _abandoned_ you.”

“Get chipped,” Jasper snarled, but any further words she might have wanted were cut off as Iris Agate stepped forward once more, pressing her baton against Jasper’s cheek, the tip resting just under the quartz’s left eye.

“Stupid words, from someone whose battle strategy is to _throw_ herself gem-first at the enemy.” Iris smiled, pressing the baton deeper into the meat of Jasper’s cheek. “But about what I’d expect from an _Earthling._ ”

Jasper wouldn’t have enough time to strike the agate. Even as fast as she was, Jasper knew she couldn’t bring her arm about faster than Iris could set off the full charge of her baton. She’d be just a gem clinking to the floor, helpless, before she could even register the pain. And, even if she could get in a hit, Onyx waited a few strides down the hall, her skin twitching as she longed for the challenge denied her by her yellow-court comrades and the now-absent Earth beast.

But that wasn’t going to stop Jasper from trying. Mustering her nerve, she brought her arm about and—

The door at her back slid open, and Steven Universe popped his head out to look upon the scene.

The gems all froze. Even Jasper, who had been so ready, so _eager_ to crash her fist into Iris Agate’s face, even just _once_ , kept her arm held back, at the ready, as she let just her eyes dart over the human boy who was being pushed out of the door by a long pink snout at his back. The human seemed almost haloed in pink, as if he called upon his...his _position_ , his _heritage_ , but it was just the voluminous mane of the boy’s strange steed.

Lion huffed in frustration and gave the human one last push with his muzzle, and then sat down, looking upon the arrayed gems and the gem-human hybrid with an impassive gaze.

Jasper blinked at the lion.

Lion blinked back, very slowly, and then, raising a paw, he began to lick it and run his footpads across his face.

“Jasper,” Steven said, looking between the orange gem and her subtly-banded aggressor, “Blue Diamond just called. She said the diamonds need to see me. You want to come along?”

“Yes, _My Diamond_ ,” Jasper said, making sure to emphasize the title, relishing the frowns that crossed the yellow-allied gems’ faces. Casually, Jasper raised her hand, but rather than striking Iris Agate, she merely brushed aside the gem’s baton. There was a small spark as the weapon departed from her skin, and Jasper’s cheek twitched under the stimulus, but she turned away quickly, determined that the agate and the onyx would see nothing.

“What about you, Lion?” Steven asked, looking to his beast companion.

Yawning once more, Lion came to his paws and rubbed against Steven’s side, nearly knocking the boy over as he circled about him and came to stand at his side. He left behind a thick line of pink fur on the boy’s jeans, little stray hairs floating off through the halls.

“Well, good! No leaving anyone behind!” Steven grinned, scratching Lion’s jaw, earning a deep purr from the cat. “Jasper, you ready?”

“Yes, My Diamond,” Jasper rumbled, coming to stand at Steven’s other side, hands clasped behind her back once more.

Behind them all, the agate and onyx scoffed, but Jasper would not turn around to acknowledge the gems.

Steven, however, would, it seemed. He glared over his shoulder, his fists clenched at his side.

And then he turned that glare on Jasper.

“Don’t call me that,” he muttered, and stormed off down the hallway, Jasper and Lion following close behind, and the soft laughter of two gems echoing after.

 


	3. In which Jasper learns her place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her diamond was so strange. And so right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long wait between updates. If you don't follow my tumblr, news flash: I'm 8 weeks pregnant and tired CONSTANTLY. I've been told that should fade in a few weeks. Good news is, there's a half-finished chapter of Paragon done, and a whole chapter of Champion after this one.
> 
> I named a gem in this way back in chapter 4 of Paragon, which is the name of a canon gem in the newest episodes. I'm not changing my gem's name. Good luck thinking of the canon gem in the place of my gem, in this chapter. It's kind of funny, actually.

 “So. What was that all about?”

Jasper frowned and lifted her chin. In her head, she imagined her body of light taking up all the space from one wall of the corridor to the other. She did not change her form to actually do so, but she tried to project the mental image of herself into the very air around her. Not so much to impress her diamond, but more to reassure herself in his presence. “What was what about, Your Radiance?”

“Gyah.” Steven shook his head, cutting a hand through the air. “Definitely not that one.”

“That one?”

“‘Your Radiance,’” her diamond replied, his hands continuing their jerky movements. “It’s weird. It sounds like...I’m some sort of _god_. And I’m _not_.” He turned his face upon her, making Jasper’s shoulders shift further back under his scrutiny. “Please, Jasper, don’t go spouting off all these weird titles! I almost wish you kept calling me ‘Rose Quartz,’ at this rate!” He said the rebel leader’s name with a certain deep gravel which did not match his normal voice in the slightest. It sounded rather absurd, in fact, coming from his small body.

“Yes, Rose Quartz,” Jasper replied, letting the words roll about deep in her chest before fighting their way up her throat. Then she snapped her mouth tightly closed. _Stupid_. Such a _stupid_ , _impertinent_ thing to do!

Her diamond gasped and stopped walking, Jasper jerking to a halt a step later. He turned his gaze upon her. His eyes shone. “ _Jasper!_ Was that a _joke?_ ”

“No, My Diamond,” Jasper said, taking a half-step back from the boy before she stopped herself. A sourness grew in her belly as the boy frowned once more at his title.

“It was. And that’s fine!” Her diamond held his hands out, wide open, so exposed to attack, the little _fool_. “I mean, it’s still not my name, but at least it’s not ‘My Diamond’ all the time.” He shuddered. “That just feels...wrong.”

Her diamond felt...wrong. Jasper could certainly sympathize. She had choked under the metaphorical (...mostly) bootheels of Yellow Diamond’s court for millennium; just long enough to grow accustomed to the foreign gems, and then be thrust back into this tiny, infinitely strange court. But, while Jasper had been trained, _conditioned_ to subsume such feelings under her duties, as was expected of any quartz, it was not suitable for this gem, her _diamond_ , to become accustomed to the discomfort. To _any_ discomfort.

“Then how should I address you?” She mentally ran over the various forms of address for high-ranking gems. Each felt wrong—inadequate—for a diamond, but surely, among them all, there was something—

“Just ‘Steven!’”

Jasper balked, very nearly taking yet another step back. She reminded herself that she must not react so... _obviously_ to any of his decrees. A diamond’s word was the highest law, after all, and yet.... “I can’t do that,” she said, as calm as she could manage. Which was not very much.

“Well, why not?” Steven scowled, sending a shot of ice into Jasper’s belly. “It’s my name. My mom picked out this name. I like it!”

Jasper considered her words carefully. She had never been very interested in protocol, beyond ensuring that she stepped on no toes and could perform her duties with a minimum of interference. But the boy seemed to lack all the memories of Pink Diamond, and even of Rose Quartz, who, in spite of her traitorous ways, had always had impeccable manners. It almost made Jasper smile, recalling facing down the rebellion’s leader on the battlefield and being addressed quite cordially as “Shining Soldier.”

But smiling at this time might be seen as an impertinence by her diamond, so Jasper just answered, a bit tentative, “It would not be...well-received.”

“It would be _very_ well-received,” the boy responded, grinning. “It’s what I want!”

And that statement sent up so many conflicting pulls in Jasper’s mind. It was what her diamond _wanted_ , but the implications...the _consequences._ Perhaps if she made him realize, he might reconsider, might choose a more suitable, less _dangerous_ title. “If I called you that, just as...’Steven,’ then other gems might think me...rude. Or...presumptuous.” The notion made her shudder. “Maybe even still affected by the Corruption.”

Her diamond scowled. “But White Diamond healed you herself.” He let his eyes dart across her form, looking for any of the blemishes she had received from her fusion with the gem beast. “You’re _fine_ , Jasper!”

Despite herself, Jasper’s lips twitched. Her diamond had called her “fine.” But he still did not understand, and she _must_ make him understand. “It doesn’t matter. If they think I’m _wrong_ in some way, then they will think I can’t do my duty. And if I can’t do my duty, then I have no place in your court.”

“Well, duh!” Steven threw his hands in the air. “You don’t _have_ a place, Jasper!”

It was a bolt through her. It was claws in her chest. It was a confirmation. She nearly gasped. Nearly fell to her _knees_ , apologized, _begged_.

But Jasper just looked forward and folded her hands behind her back, going to rigid attention. She grasped at her forearms, the pressure very nearly painful enough to mean something to the old veteran. “Yes, My Diamond,” she agreed.

“Would you stop...ugh!” Steven groaned, shaking his head. “I swear, what am I going to _do_....”

It seemed he could make no answer for himself. Turning his back on the quartz, Steven continued his walk down the hallway, Jasper and the boy’s feline companion following silently along at his back, until they came to the end of the corridor, their steps slowing as they approached a doorway.

Jasper hesitated for just a moment, frowning. Some little gem was being derelict in her duties, not rushing forth to handle the lock. They’d be in for a bad night, if they didn’t remember their place soon....

With a jolt, millennium of conditioning fell away and Jasper remember that there were precisely two gems present at this moment: her diamond and herself, and she, _she_ was the little gem being a useless piece of chalk!

Jasper took a lunging step forward, arm outstretched, but Steven’s hand was already on the door lock, swiping his fingers over it with some small hesitation, the task still unfamiliar—and it should be more than unfamiliar, it should be _unthinkable_ to him!—but the lock recognizing him immediately, a pink diamond flashing over the surface, the door splitting down the middle and sliding open without a sound.

Jasper stood, arm still held out, frozen. Even her mind had ceased to function as she watched her diamond stride forward as if _nothing_ had just taken place. As if he hadn’t just _opened a door_ because his gem had failed to recognize her _place_. But he was right. He was _right._ She _had_ no place, and she had certainly affirmed that beyond any doubt. She should just wait out here. Slam her face into the wall until she saved her diamond the effort of cleansing his court.

As Jasper hovered before the doorway, the boy’s beast made to follow Steven. But, just a pawstep inside the room beyond, it paused, looking over its shoulder at Jasper. The lion waited, tail twitching.

Ten seconds passed. Then twenty.

And Lion let out a long, deep sigh, returning to the side of the soldier. Gently, it closed its great maw on Jasper’s outstretched hand, encompassing her palm in an uncomfortable, warm dampness. Gently, the lion tugged, pulling Jasper off-balance and dragging her along, through the doorway and into the great, wide room beyond.

As the door closed, Steven glanced over his shoulder. His eyebrows shot up nearly into his curly hair.

Jasper looked down, shielding her eyes with her hair. She should have stayed outside. Should not have let the beast move her. She should not be a reminder to her diamond of her own worthlessness.

Steven gasped and turned, hands coming up to press against his cheeks, squishing up the boy’s chubby face. His eyes sparkled as he cried out, “That’s so _cute!_ It’s like you’re holding _haaaaaaaands!_ ”

Jasper jolted and looked down at her hand and the beast’s mouth.

Lion snorted, head lifting up. With a little “mleh,” he spat Jasper’s hand out and began to groom his chest in great, long sweeps of his tongue.

“Aw, come on!” Steven grinned. “That was cute!”

Jasper chewed on her cheek and considered shoving her hand back in the beast’s mouth. It seemed to be what her diamond wanted, but....

Lion cut his eyes at her, curling his upper lip just enough to show off piercing fangs.

Jasper decided that perhaps it was not required that she thrust her fist in-between carnivorous teeth. At least, not until ordered.

Smile fading down to just a smirk, Steven shook his head. “Ah, well. I’m sure you’ll get used to each other. He faced forward again, looking about the wide, nearly-empty room. “Now, where are they?”

As if in response to his inquiry, there came soft glows from three spots on the surrounding walls. Opposite, to the right and to the left; white blue and yellow panels lit up, and then split down the middle, forming massive doorways, through which strode three just-as massive gems. Elegant, regal, terrifying gems.

Jasper went to rigid attention. Spine straight, shoulders back, gaze lowered, and arms coming up, crossing over one another, wrists tilting back in that just-so salute which had been drilled into her since the moment she had emerged from the cliff-side. Saluting gems from other courts? No. But saluting _these_ gems? _Always_.

Steven caught the movement from the corner of his eye and glanced back, frowning—did he expect her to not give other diamonds their due respect? Oh, surely not, please, even a diamond somehow melded with the rebellious Rose Quartz could not be so brash—but, before he could respond, the gem directly across from him called out a soft greeting, her voice scaled down to keep the echoes in the empty room to a minimum.

“Ah, Pink. You found your way easily?” White Diamond smiled at her young protege, her new student—old student?—and it was soft, serene. Just as calm as she had been not five hours before, holding a snarling, corrupted gem in her hand and singing the beast back into Jasper’s form.

“Well, it was just down the hall,” Steven replied, shrugging. “But I thought you didn’t need me until we got to the Zoo?”

“Ah, well.” White Diamond strode forward, the many thin layers of her attire shifting and shining with each step. She was almost too bright to look upon, in this well-lit room, the threads of silver and beads of glass on her cloak and train glittering with every movement. “I’m afraid that there has been a disagreement between Yellow and Blue, which must be addressed.”

“It was not a _disagreement_ ,” Yellow Diamond snapped, coming into the room with markedly less grace than her elder gem. Her heels cracked down on the floor sharp enough that the pearl following in her wake moved unevenly, stepping whenever her mistress was mid-stride, pausing whenever Yellow Diamond’s feet came down, shaking the floor. It was an odd sight, but the pearl tried to keep up the accustomed dancing gate of her type, nose held high in the air, defying any gem to call her on her movements.

“Blue Diamond is operating under the _laughable_ assumption that _her_ teachings on gem society are of greater importance than the _essential_ task of actually _creating_ gems to populate that society!”

From the opposite door, Blue Diamond entered, hands held within her sleeves and clasped together just under her chest, her head held high, but not nearly so rigid as her martial counterpart. Her steps were softer, more delicate, and the little pearl who followed her only had to keep just clear of her mistress’s sweeping train. “And Yellow Diamond forgets that, without the law and culture of our people, our gems run the risk of becoming unguided. Listless.” She paused, looking down on the smallest, youngest, strangest of the diamonds. “Or worse: _rebellious_.”

Steven frowned, but said nothing.

“As you can see,” White Diamond sighed, gesturing at Blue and Yellow Diamond with opposing hands, “we have reached an impasse. Neither of my sisters will agree to step down and be second in line to instruct you. I’m afraid there is no other way for us to make this decision.”

Jasper felt a sudden spark, a thrill in her chest. Were they really...might she see...?

The lion creature, too, seemed to tense up. He sat, suddenly, and he lifted his head high, the newly-cleaned ruff on his chest puffed out as he looked straight forward. Only his tail twitched, little one-inch movements, back and forth, as he waited.

Steven remained oblivious to the reactions of his small court. He tilted his head. “Coin flip?”

Lion’s tail twitched several more times, rapidly, and Jasper had the distinct impression that the creature wished to respond. A stupid creature, if he did; one did not interfere in the conversations of diamonds.

Blue Diamond frowned, looking down upon Steven. “What is a...’coin?’”

“You know,” Steven replied, grinning affably, “a piece of mon...oh.” He frowned, rubbing at his chin. “Do gems even have money?” He looked between the three diamonds, who stared back at him, their confusion answer enough. “Guess...not,” he murmured. Then, tentatively, he said, “Rock, Paper, Scissors?”

The elder diamonds glanced to one-another, as if one of them might have an explanation. None did.

The little diamond fidgeted, rubbing one of his shoulders. “Uh...well, then...how are you going to decide?”

“In the traditional manner,” White Diamond said, looking between her bickering companions. “Are your Champions prepared to defend your interests?”

“Yes,” Blue Diamond said, holding her hands up high, next to her head, and clapping once.

Before the clap finished reverberating about the room, there was a movement in the still-open blue doorway. A gem stepped out, striding towards her diamond. She was tall and thin, made even more-so by dagger heels. Her features were sharp, almost pearl-like. But none would dare call this gem a mere pearl. Not if they intended to finish the day unshattered. The rectangular periwinkle gemstone on her forehead glittered in the recessed lighting, each step shifting the angle of light and sending up new flashes. Little reflections rose up into the gem’s short, violet curls, adding arresting, if temporary, highlights to the well-maintained style. And, about her neck, a thick, plain band of blue proclaimed to all her station as Blue Diamond’s strongest gem. Her Champion.

The gem stopped at her Diamond’s feet, just in view, but did not look back at her leader. The mauve gem focused ahead, across the room, awaiting the arrival of her opponent.

“My Topaz is ready,” Blue Diamond announced, without even looking down upon her gem.

“And yours, Yellow?” White Diamond inquired, looking to the other complainant.

Sneering down at the topaz, Yellow Diamond raised her own hands and gave a sharp, cracking clap.

It seemed as if Yellow Diamond’s dark gem did not so much step into the doorway as merely expose herself to the light of the room beyond. She came forward.

Onyx was so much the opposite of Topaz. She was not an elegant gem. She was more of Jasper’s type, but there could be no real comparison between the quartz and this high court gem. Jasper was far more muscular, but Onyx resembled the stone she had been born from. One expected her to stop at each step and turn into a mere statue, but then she would move another muscle, and change the sculpture that was her entire being. Her moves were jerky, tense, but Jasper knew from experience that the gem could be little more than a blur, when she so wished.

Onyx stopped just in the same position as Topaz had, looking straight across the room, into the unblinking eyes of her opponent. She held her head high, and the yellow band about her throat contrasted sharply with her black skin, demanding far more attention than did her counterpart’s markings, though no gem would fail to notice either gem’s status.

“My Onyx is ready,” Yellow Diamond said, crossing her arms, as if she was already bored of the proceedings.

Steven looked between the two new gems, and was opening his mouth to speak, when White Diamond raised her hands and, as her sisters had done, she clapped. Once. And said, evenly, “Begin.”

There was a crash. A near-explosion. A shockwave projecting out from the center of the arena, where two gems had slammed into one-another, locking their hands together and snarling in one-another’s face. At their feet, tiles cracked and dust swirled.

It had been hard to judge scale when the gems were beside their massive diamonds, but now, grappling together, it was almost alarming, the difference. Topaz was barely half the size of Onyx, head tilted far back so she could smirk up into the other’s gems face. Yet the imbalance did not seem to concern Topaz in the least. Nor did she seem to feel the need to fall back on something like agility or guile, in the face of her behemoth opponent. Topaz pressed back against Onyx’s grip, forcing the black gem to take the first retreating step, another little crater of broken tiles forming in her wake.

But then Onyx surged in response, and it was Topaz retreating, her momentary defeat sparking up a fire of rage in the smaller gem’s eyes. Her spiked heels dug into the arena floor, leaving deep divots as she steadied herself and, with a bunching of her legs and a great roar, she leapt forward, overwhelming Onyx’s strength, sending the black gem staggering back.

But, while Onyx was large, she did not lack maneuverability. She crouched down, allowing Topaz to rise over her, turning the lithe gem’s momentum against her as she was brought into a tight arc. Holding firm to the blue gem’s wrists, Onyx guided Topaz overhead and slamming down to the floor so violently that tiles shattered for a dozen feet around the impact.

Topaz did not remain down for long. Just as soon as she wrenched her hands free from Onyx’s grip, she was up, rushing forwards, arms raised high in the air. The gem upon her forehead flashed bright, and in her right hand there appeared a long-handled mace with a spiked ball on the end, the blue steel of the weapon shining like oil on water. Screaming, she brought it swinging down, straight at Onyx’s head.

Onyx jumped back up to her feet while the mace was still high overhead, her hand passing over the gem on her own chest. She pulled from herself a bright, golden sword, simple in design, but almost absurdly long, even for the gem’s formidable form. This, like her opponent, she wielded in one hand, despite its evident weight. She only brought her left hand into the battle when she grabbed the sharp blade itself, holding the sword crosswise over her head to catch the downward strike of Topaz’s mace.

They hesitated there, for a moment, weapons locked, staring one-another down, eyes dark and intense.

And then they were springing apart, and then together again. Their weapons swung about in long arcs, crashing together with impacts that sent shockwaves through the arena, into Jasper’s chest, thrilling her and clouding her brain and daring her to jump forward and join in the fray.

But it would be madness. She would be shattered, facing even one of these gems, and not just for the impertinence of interfering in such a sacred trial. For she was a quartz, yes, but these gems were rarities. Variants. Champions.

“They’re going to shatter each other,” Steven whispered. Then, louder, “Stop them! They’re going to shatter each other!”

From Diamonds and Champions, there was no acknowledgement. It was only the lowly pearls—the _decorations_ —who glanced away from the fight to look upon the strange hybrid leader. But, well-trained as they were, they did their duty by their diamonds and did not speak.

Steven would not be ignored. He took a step towards the arena, an arm crossing over his chest, gem glowing, and Jasper felt ice run down her back. He couldn’t interfere. But he was a diamond. He could do what he wanted! But he was so small, so weak, _she_ had hurt him with almost no effort; a Champion could tear him apart by accident, and if she lost her diamond again...but she couldn’t _oppose_ the will of her diamond! She had to save him, but she couldn’t stop him, it was all going to happen again—

A tile cracked and shifted under Onyx’s feet, sending a quick jolt up the gem’s form, breaking her perfect stance for just a millisecond.

It was all Topaz needed. With a style and grace to be envied by even the watching pearls, she spun on one stiletto-clad foot, arms and mace held in close to her chest, building her momentum until she was nearly a blur. One rotation and she was at full speed, letting her arms swing out to full extension again. With a whistle of her weapon breaking the sound barrier and a crack which reverberated through the arena, into Jasper’s own gem, the spiked head of Topaz’s mace slammed into Onyx’s chest, just an inch south of the black gem itself. The mace continued its motion, through the opponent’s body, Onyx’s thick muscles already losing form, turning to naught more than light and air.

Following the momentum of her mace, Topaz finished the spin, stepping out delicately to stop herself so she could face what had once been her opponent. Her short, curled hair barely shifted at the sudden stop. With a flash of light, Topaz’s weapon left her hands, and she reached out, catching Onyx’s dark gem before it touched the ground.


	4. In which Jasper wishes to be left out of this

A respectful silence fell over the arena as Topaz cradled the gem of her opponent. She closed her eyes, feeling the calm of the moments after victory.

She only had a few moments of dignified silence to contemplate before, high above, Yellow Diamond let out a sharp hiss. “Shards.”

Steven, his gem still glowing, balanced just on the cusp of summoning his strange, un-Diamondly weapon, snapped his head up to look upon the massive yellow gem. “N-no!” he shouted, holding his hand out to Yellow Diamond. “Don’t hurt her! I know she lost, but _please_ , don’t hurt her!”

“Oh, stop being so over-dramatic, Pink,” Yellow Diamond muttered, shaking her head indulgently. Though the words were low, just a little throaty, there was a twist at the corner of the woman’s lips. Lifting her hands, she clapped once more. “Pearl,” she said, a single word, but it seemed order enough.

The small gem left her diamond’s side, taking delicate steps through the rubble of the arena, until she stood before the still-kneeling figure of Topaz. There she paused, balanced between the demands of a diamond’s orders and the propriety of facing a high-ranking gem of another court. Even under the eye of her diamond, the pearl did not address Blue’s Champion, merely waiting with hands clasped together just under the gem on her chest.

Topaz did not abuse the balance of power. She rose to her full height—and now, face-to-face with an actual pearl, the difference between the dense, powerful fighter and the airy pearl made any earlier comparison laughable—and looked down upon the prim creature. Holding her cupped palms out, she offered the gem of her opponent to the pearl, who acknowledged the gesture with a respectful nod.

Carefully, her skin never touching the blue court gem, Yellow Pearl took Onyx from Topaz’s hands and turned away, almost dancing back to her diamond’s side.

Yellow Diamond seemed to feel no need to claim the conquered gem itself, and Jasper noted that Steven’s shoulders fell as he realized the vulnerable un-formed gem was to remain in the hands of a delicate pearl, instead of a thwarted diamond. H’sis gem glow faded away.

Blue Diamond’s champion likewise returned to her Diamond’s side, and, though she returned with her physical form intact, she received just as much acknowledgement from her Diamond as Onyx had. Only the little blue pearl acknowledged the gem’s presence, and that only to take a small step to the side, away from the battered warrior, as if Topaz’s dishevelment was catching.

“Very well,” White Diamond said, looking between her two elder companions and then to the smaller, new-and-yet-old diamond standing across the arena. “Blue Diamond shall be your first teacher, and Yellow shall follow after.”

“As it should be,” Blue Diamond acknowledged, holding her head high—what seemed abnormally high to Jasper, having seen the blue court’s leader doubled-over in despair on more than one occasion over the years—and cutting a little smile at her Yellow sister. “Steven will be well-prepared for your teachings once he has learned the essentials from myself.”

Yellow Diamond huffed. “More likely he’ll finally be able to _understand_ your babblings once he can apply them to actually _leading_ his gems.”

Blue Diamond’s smile faded and her brows drew together. She had just opened her mouth to shoot back a reply when White Diamond once more spoke up.

“Do not forget; you have four years with your student.” White Diamond looked upon Blue, a single brow rising. “I suggest you not _waste_ them.”

“Oh my! Yes!” Blue Diamond pressed a hand to her cheek, eyes darting as she sorted through her mind. “Laws, first. We should cover laws, and combine that with the history of the laws. Integrate that with general gem history. Oh, and the relevant art movements, we can’t forget that. And literature! Oh!” Blue Diamond looked down upon Steven, lines of tension strung across her body. “Can you even _read?_ ”

“Uh...English, yeah,” Steven said, but then shook his head. “I can’t read gem stuff, though. Pearl was going to teach me, but—”

“A _pearl_ was going to teach _you?_ ” Blue Diamond scoffed. “A pearl! You’d be lucky to understand anything more complicated than one of those little... _dramas_ they’re so fond of. Thank goodness she never focused long enough to try!”

Steven frowned, and Jasper noted his gaze flickering away from Blue Diamond. Falling, instead, upon the pearl consorts. “Well, she taught me to read English. She’d have done fine with gem stuff.”

Yellow and White Diamond jolted, staring down at their smaller companion.

And a strange noise spread through the room. Impossible. Alien. Long-forgotten.

Blue Diamond laughed. Long and loud; smooth and musical.

At her feet, pearl and champion looked up, their mouths dropping open. After a moment, they turned to one-another, seeking confirmation of the impossible event. They were not the only ones, as White and Yellow Diamond had both nearly jumped at the first burst of mirth, and were now leaning towards one-another, exchanging astonished glances.

Blue just continued laughing, going on for a half-minute before she was able to add any words into the mix. “Ah hah! A pearl! A pearl, teach you to _read_ _fine!_ Oh, Pink, I am so glad she never got it into her _fancy_ little head to try; you already have such _misguided_ notions!”

“Hey!” Steven scowled, fists clenching at his sides. “Pearl’s head isn’t fancy! I mean...it’s a little fancy...but she knows a lot of cool stuff! Like math and robotics and sword-fighting and—”

If his defense of the defective member of his Earth entourage was intended to prove anything to the diamonds, Steven failed to accomplish his goals. Rather much the opposite, as Yellow Diamond joined her sister in laughter, though hers was slower, lower, a mere chuckle, even if her eyes did shine with barely held-back tears.

Steven squared up his shoulders, shouting at the massive gems before him. “Wh...why are you laughing!?”

“It’s just...oh, you’re so like _her!”_ Blue wiped a tear from her cheeks—likely the first in millennium not borne from sorrow—and smiled down upon the boy. “Well, you are her, of course. But, _oh,_ you always so terribly _indulgent_ of your gems.”

“Well, maybe _you_ need to be more indulgent of _your_ gems!” Steven shot back, daring to bare his teeth. Or...not daring. How could he dare? He was a diamond, displaying to his own kind. “You’re making fun of pearls when they’re right in front of you!” He thrust a finger out towards the little blue pearl at her diamond’s feet.

The pearl froze. Not the elegant, statue-like positioning of a servant awaiting orders, but the rigidity Jasper had seen overcome gems on the battlefield a hundred times. The paralysis as they realized the final blow was coming down.

Blue Diamond’s gaze flickered to her servant for just a second. Then she was rolling her eyes. “I’m not ‘making fun’ of pearls, Pink. It’s simple fact; Yellow would have taught you the same, if her Onyx had performed properly.”

Yellow Diamond opened her mouth to protest, but Blue was already moving on in her explanation.

“Pearls are not teachers. They are _servants._ _Companions_ , at best. Expecting them to instruct another gem would be like...like expecting a jasper to entertain you with a dance!” She gestured at Jasper, who tried to resist the urge to react under the focus, but she could tell, just for a moment, that she had frozen. Just like the pearl. “Or expecting a ruby to carve a statue!”

“Or expecting a rose quartz to win a rebellion?” Steven replied, his words cutting through the diamonds before him, sending them reeling back, Blue and Yellow Diamond’s arms rising up to their chests, just before their gems.

“She did not _win_ her rebellion!” Yellow Diamond shouted, fist clenching as she forced her arm back down. “We destroyed her army and left the remnants _stranded_ on that miserable _rock_ , so the Cluster could emerge and destroy them once and for all!”

“And how’s that Cluster coming along?” Steven asked, but he awaited no answer. He just laughed, a little too sharply. “Oh, right! Peridot helped me deactivate it! A simple _kindergartener._ An _era two_ peridot, made with no powers, except, oh wait...I think she showed you how wrong that is when she helped me fight you! Hah! Not to mention, she used her powers to poof Jasper!”

Jasper did _not_ like the sudden focus of every gem in the room. She felt a heat on her cheeks, and tried to fight down her flush, but even she could see the burnt-orange darkness spreading just under her eyes. Rebelliously—no, not rebelliously, _resentfully,_ if that—Jasper narrowed her eyes at her diamond, whom failed to notice his gem’s scrutiny.

“So it seems like a lot of gems are doing things they’re not supposed to do.” Steven smirked, tilting his head. “What was it? ‘An agate terrifies, a lapis terraforms’?”

Yellow and Blue Diamond looked to one-another, lips parted for just-forming questions, none of which were expressed, as Steven continued his rant.

“Well, the lapis _I_ know _fought_ ; she fought Jasper, too, and she won! More than once!”

“My Diamond, please,” Jasper whimpered, but the young boy didn’t seem to hear.

“And then she started making art! And she made a friend! And they ran a farm and got a pet and...and she made a family for herself! And, agates?” He scoffed. “The only agate _I_ ever met couldn’t lead a dog on a leash! In fact....”

Steven paused in his speech, finally turning to look upon Jasper. But, rather than noticing his gem’s fear or even her embarrassment, he just noticed...her. And he...he _smiled_ at her. Bright and...and _warm._

A moment later, he turned back to the diamonds before him. “In fact, I think Holly Blue Agate is _done_ leading! _Effective immediately_. We’re going to the Zoo, _my_ Zoo, and I am taking it back!”

His proclamation rang out across the arena, causing...utter confusion. Calm, dignified confusion, but confusion. The greatest of all from Yellow and Blue Diamond.

“We didn’t record that,” Yellow Diamond said, then looked down upon her pearl, scowling.

Stuck under her diamond’s gaze, the little pearl tried to stand still, but a little tremor ruined her poise.

“When did you meet my agate?” Blue Diamond asked, a sharp, icy edge in her words.

Steven grinned, wide and wild. Arms crossed, he tilted his head back to look up at the three elder diamonds before him. “How about we go ask her?” he suggested. “I’m sure she’d _love_ to tell you all about it.”

 


	5. In which Jasper appreciates the sights

Jasper had heard stories about Pink Diamond’s Zoo. It had been...well, a joke among the quartzes. A private, very-closely guarded joke, but how could they not make fun of their beloved leader’s little absurdities? An entire facility made to preserve the creatures they were trying so hard to wipe out? Was this sort of thing the other diamonds did with their colonies? Surely not. Surely no other being in the universe would be so contrary as to do all they could to eradicate a pest, and also to coddle a select few in some artificial environment.

Jasper wanted to hate it, this relic of the obsessions of two gems: the diamond that had constructed it and the rebel leader who had been made to serve within. But it was just so...so...

 _Pink_.

Garish, bright, homely pink. Jasper had spent so many millennium walking lustrous yellow halls. A few trips through waxen blue. One brief sojourn to a radiant white antechamber, only there long enough to deliver a missive before she was banished once again to her ship. It had never felt right, even after millennium with a yellow badge placed so prominently on her chest. This, though...it had been so, so long since Jasper was surrounded all in native pink.

“G-greetings, oh luminous, lustrous, perfect, powerful, wondrous—”

Jasper gritted her teeth. All pink...except this chalk.

“Gracious, _magnanimous_ diamonds!” The agate swept herself into such a deep bow that the two buns on her head very nearly touched the floor. Just a little further, Jasper mused, and the agate would probably manage to kiss her own butt and all the diamonds’ at the same time. Impressive.

“Oh, do stand up, Holly Blue Agate,” Blue Diamond snapped, rolling her eyes even as the agate complied quicker than a released spring. “You’re making _my_ back hurt....”

“Thank you, My Diamond. You are too kind to this _lowly_ gem.” The agate did her best to stand tall and still, but there were little twitches all across her skin. In particular, she went back and forth between twisting her right wrist in towards her body just a small degree—the gesture hiding a blemish on her glove that she would no doubt have frantically scrubbed clean if she had been given more time to prepare than ship docking procedures allowed—and keeping her hands in strict perpendicular fists at her side, as protocol dictated. The fidgeting did far more to draw attention than the imperfection ever would have on its own. Jasper knew well enough that stillness was better than perfection; stillness didn’t draw attention, and attention was what exposed error. Agates never learned that trick. They were so concerned with being _perfect_ that they could never settle for just being _ignored_.

And, apparently, the problem extended to this one’s _mouth_. “To what do I owe the _honor_ and _delight_ of this visit, Your Radiances? Oh!” The blue gem clapped her hands before her chest—yes, making absolutely sure to place her unblemished glove just to the fore of her soiled one—and beamed. “You must be here to observe the newest human specimens! They’re a bit fragile at this point in their development—just about a third into their pre-emergence cycle—but I’m sure we can manage to bring the uterine replicators out for your inspection with only a little risk to the proto-humans!”

“Proto-humans?” Steven muttered. Then he gasped, stepping away from Blue Diamond’s side, where he had thus far escaped Holly Blue Agate’s detection through the masterful deception of not being...well, _visibly_ a diamond. “You mean _babies?_ ”

There was an instant change in the agate’s demeanor as Steven talked. A rise in her upper lip, a deep sigh, a roll of the eyes. She took several seconds to complete that roll and look down from the face of her leader and onto the human standing below them.

And then she went sharp. Jasper could _feel_ the energy coming off the agate, from her very gem itself. For the second time that day, Jasper had to remind herself that this was no agate of her court, or else she might have tensed before the anger radiating off Holly Blue. Any moment, Jasper expected the agate’s gem to go alight. What would it be? Cane? Whip? Or just a simple set of spikes over hard, fast fists?

“Y—” Holly Blue began, but then stopped. Her eyes darted about the gathered court visitors. Three diamonds, two pearls, a jasper, a yawning beast, and this human. What she saw there brought the smoothness and calm back to her face. Tilting her head, she looked up at the diamonds with lidded eyes, lips curved into a plump smile. “Yeeeeeeellow Diamond,” she continued, almost smoothly, “have you brought a new acquisition to the Zoo, as well?”

Yellow Diamond frowned at the suggestion. Jasper knew very well that Yellow hated this zoo. Hated the resources expended upon caring for its fragile human life. But it seemed her disapproval was more for the agate’s assumption about the smallest of the beings at her side. “ _Agate_ ,” she snapped, “you will show _respect_ to P—” But, before she could finish the statement, the diamond paused, looking down at her ankle.

Steven had placed his hand upon the diamond’s boot; a gesture which had Holly Blue all-but hyperventilating, but which caused no reaction among the other three diamonds, beyond Yellow’s cut-off reprimand. It took some moments for Yellow to marshal her thoughts, and not with all that much grace. “Puuuuuuuh,” she murmured, for several seconds, on the cusp of uttering the one phrase that the little diamond at her side had requested she keep back. “Prrrrotocol,” she finished. Nodding to herself, she tried again. “Respect to protocol.” She glanced down to Steven, attempting to be unobtrusive, but it was hard for an eighty-foot-tall gem to do anything subtly.

The little gem gave his elder a smile, or, more accurately, he forced one, the corners of his mouth going up far too high, his brows lowered into almost a wince. “Inspection,” Steven whispered through his teeth, though perhaps he need not have bothered, as Holly Blue tilted her head at the sound, as if she could not hear properly unless it was from some other angle.

“An inspection,” Blue Diamond agreed, inclining her head at the agate. “Before we hand off this...specimen, we should evaluate the state of the Zoo. To ensure the humans are not...in need of additional supplies.”

“Oh, well, if we’re talking about _supplies_ , I can give you a peridot’s memory-bank worth of requests!” Holly Blue laughed, shrill, pressing a hand to her cheek.

Then she stopped,eyes widening at her own words. Holly Blue bowed sharply at the waist, once more nearly doubling herself up. “N-not that we are _lacking_ anything _necessary_ , My Diamond! Merely some...amenities! For the guards, mostly!” She laughed, waving a hand in dismissal. “Always so _needy_ , those _Earthlings_.”

Jasper tilted her head. This agate was really all over the place, blaming gems and then humans so interchangeably. No wonder Steven had demanded they come here. If the station’s upkeep was handled in a similar fashion, she’d need to watch her step, or else she might plummet straight through an unsecured floor panel and into the depths of space.

Holly Blue rose once more and coughed into a fist. “Ah, if you are ready, Your Radiances? I would be _honored_ to begin the inspection.”

“Yes, let’s begin,” Blue Diamond said, and cut her eyes at her yellow sister. “If we start now, maybe we’ll be finished by the time my training window is done.”

Yellow Diamond snorted. Then she gave Blue an appraising look. With a little twitch to her lips, she said, “A joke? How unlike you.”

Blue just sighed, tucking her hands into the sleeves of her robe. Stepping out from Yellow Diamond’s side, she made her way down the long hallway, Holly Blue Agate noticing a moment later and sprinting ahead of her leader, settling down when she was well-ahead to conduct the tour.

Holly Blue Agate knew something about every square foot of the station.

Unfortunately.

Jasper decided to tune the agate out by the second corridor, preferring to focus on her surroundings, rather than the chatter. It was her duty, after all, to be alert to threats against her diamond, rather than suffering through architecture lectures. Though, to be sure, Jasper would have looked for _any_ excuse to ignore this...chatty agate. Oh, certainly, agates _always_ liked to talk—it wasn’t like they had any reason _not_ to, especially since it was their job to give orders to the quartz soldiers of each diamond’s army—but this one just didn’t _stop_. And she was always looking for _approval_ , spouting off some random fact and looking over her shoulder to the diamonds.

And...down, as well.

The first time, Jasper was unsure if the little flicker of attention was imagined—was she imagining some sort of threat to keep herself occupied in the face of this _torture_ of a tour?—but the second time Holly Blue let her gaze fall from the faces of the elder diamonds, Jasper was sure. Holly Blue was focusing on something _other_ than her leaders and, unlike most agates, those glances _weren’t_ for the pearls dancing about their feet. Holly Blue was sending very deliberate, very sharp glares at the supposed human walking among them.

At first, Jasper assumed curiosity. Perhaps the agate was rarely this close to a human, despite her position.

But then Holly Blue stopped by a panel in the wall and looked _directly_ at Steven as she spoke. “This is the human disposal chute; degrading biological material is sent through here to an _incinerator_ , before being reintegrated into the ecosystem.” And she smiled, so sweetly.

From her diamond, Jasper heard a deep, familiar, quartz-like rumble. Yet, instead of rushing forward with the impetuosity of a quartz—and Jasper would have gladly joined him in the strike, that agate had just _threatened_ her diamond to his _face—_ Steven just squeezed his fists tighter and glared back at Holly Blue, who sneered at the “human’s” posturing.

Holly Blue turned to face forward once again, back to education instead of intimidation, but soon came to a halt as the tour reached the end of a corridor, a diamond-sized door waiting before them.

“Now,” Holly Blue said, turning and clapping her hands together excitedly, “beyond this door, we have the creche, which is currently under renovation in preparation for the next generation of humans.”

Unobtrusively, Blue Diamond’s pearl came forward, passing the agate so she could access the door’s lock. She either failed to notice or decided to ignore the brief roving gaze of the agate—so perhaps Holly was a _little_ typical of her type—as she palmed through the console.

Holly Blue’s lips twitches before she looked back up to her diamond guests. “Unlike gems, humans do not emerge fully-formed, and must undergo a lengthy period of physical grown and defenselessness.” The agate sighed and shrugged. “This is, sadly, unavoidable, despite extensive experimentation with prolonged periods in the uterine replicators. It seems humans _require_ this...postemergence maturation to become fully-functioning members of their species.

“Although....” Holly Blue pressed her hands together before her chest, bowing—though just a few inches, this time—in supplication, “with further generosity from Your Radiances, I would gladly undertake further trials on the old experiments! I believe, within a few generations, we might be able to maintain and breed a human population _entirely_ in test chambers, without the costly process of _raising_ and _housing_ them. Imagine it! Shrink this Zoo down to a hundredth of its size, a _thousandth_ of its resource draw, all monitored with an entirely robotic crew! Of course,” Holly focused on Blue Diamond, pursing her lips, and continuing in a croon, “a robotic crew would make my position here unnecessary, what with no one needing to _manage_ robots, unlike those... _quartzes_ , but I am certain you could find a _suitable_ placement for me in your empire.”

Holly Blue Agate gave her diamond the softest of smiles, and Jasper thought that... _yes._ The agate was _fluttering_ her eyelashes. Like a little _pearl_ seeking a favor. Even Iris Agate, as devoted as she was to Yellow Diamond, had at least managed her negotiations with a bit of _tact!_ Jasper half expected the agate to get on her knees and ask to polish her diamond’s gem. It was grating, it was _disgraceful_ , it was—

The door to the creche opened.

Jasper took in a soft breath.

“Give it back!” A stout red gem was shouting, jumping at another gem—orange-and-red-striped, tall, so _thin—_ who twisted and dodged before her, right arm upraised. With each jump, the red one crashed back down to the ground so hard the flooring beneath seemed to vibrate, and she growled, hair fluffing up in agitation. “You’re gonna tear it! Come on!” She jumped again, arms flailing about as she tried to catch hold of something in her opponent’s grasp—an odd reddish mass, quite close in color to the shorter gem—which was being passed between the tall gem’s grip as she kept it out of reach.

“Gonna have to try harder than that, Carnelian!” The orange gem laughed, taking a dancing step backwards, holding the item—some sort of replica of the carnelian in miniature, with simplified features and, given how it squished between the gem’s hand, a definite softness—high overhead, twisting and turning to avoid her assailant’s efforts. She was agile, but each movement brought a different compact muscle into relief on her skin, betraying a quartz’s form. “You _know_ this isn’t safe for the newborns! They could get your gross hair in their mouths and be _poisoned!_ ”

The carnelian growled, hunkering down and passing a hand over the gem on her left shoulder, producing an oversized boomerang. “If we’re worried about the babies dying from gross hair, Skinny, then I guess you should shave yours _off!”_

“Oh, come at me, Carnie!” Skinny laughed, dancing away from her opponent, running towards the end of the hallway, looking over her shoulder for the first few steps to make sure her opponent pursued. Satisfied that the game was on, she faced forward again and lengthened her stride for a full sprint. “You’ll have to catch m—”

The thin orange gem looked through the unanticipatedly open doorway, her eyes falling instantly upon Jasper, who stood there. Dumb.

The little jasper, the little _beta gem_ , stopped on her next step—the Carnelian having also halted several yards back—and stared through the doorway, the stuffed gem replica dangling from her fingertips.

The little jasper whispered. “Sis.”

And then she shrieked.

The jasper’s back arched, her hands spasming, the stuffed gem falling from them onto the ground. All across the beta gem’s form, white lines of electricity writhed and crackled, with the greatest concentration about her stomach, about her _gem_ , where the pale blue thickness of a whip wrapped tight.

“How _dare you_ act so _disgracefully_ in front of your _Diamond!_ ”

It was like being slowed down under the weight of an ocean. Jasper turned her head, gaze traveling up the length of the whip, to a clenched hand and thick forearm, and up to the dark, snarling face of the silly, simpering agate.

“On your _knees!_ ” Holly Blue Agate snarled, arm coming back, whip untangling from the jasper’s waist long enough for the quartz to waver and crumple to the floor, not so much on her knees, as ordered, but sprawled, the gem on her stomach emitting a loud _clink_ as it hit the metal panels.

Holly Blue lifted her arm high overhead, whip beginning a slow, preparatory arc back over her shoulder. “I should _shatter you myself!_ ” Holly shrieked, and her arm snapped forward once again.

Jasper thought about closing her eyes, blocking out the punishment, but then she caught a flicker of movement.

From her side, Steven rushed forward, arms outstretched, and Jasper _tried_ to react, _tried_ to get between her diamond and the attacking agate, but she was too _stunned_ , too _slow,_ too _useless._

Steven grabbed the end of the agate’s whip and pulled, a scream wrenching from deep in his chest. The force of the agate’s strike yanked him forward, sending the boy crashing into Holly Blue’s back, sending her off-balance and leaving her whip to flop uselessly on the ground.

Holly Blue turned, growling, and looked down upon the meddling human. “You!”

Everything seemed to be converging on the two quartzes—agate and rose—and Jasper couldn’t make her legs move to interfere.

“ _Big_ mistake!” Holly Blue laughed, yanking on her whip, freeing it from the boy’s grip. “You don’t have your _rebels_ here to _protect_ you, anymore, _human!_ ” She wound the whip about her fist, electricity sparking along the length as she prepared for a simple, direct strike.

Steven panted, looking at his hands. There were deep red grooves on his palms. He winced, but pushed down the pain—like a true quartz—and glared up at Holly Blue. “I’m no human,” Steven rasped, and his gem blazed, its pink light washing over his face and the agate’s as well.

A split-second later, Jasper’s view of the confrontation was overlaid in pink as a sphere surrounded the two gems.

A split-second after that, an enormous blue fist slammed down on the sphere.

Holly Blue shrieked, her arms coming up to guard her head. After some seconds, realizing her physical form remained intact, the agate looked up past her forearms, and found herself pinned down by the glacial eyes of Blue Diamond, her leader’s fist still hovering just overhead, more than ready to crash down onto the agate below if the protective pink sphere should falter.

Steven breathed heavily, gem glowing bright as he maintained the bubble, even under the pressure of a diamond’s fist. His legs shook, and he seemed just as ready to collapse to the floor as the little jasper had been.

“I’m not human,” Steven repeated, his words and the obvious proof of his powers enough to drag Holly Blue’s attention down to him.

Steven met the agate’s eyes.

He grinned.

“I’m Pink Diamond,” he said. “And you’re fired.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you wondering, "Paragon" will continue, and I hope to have a chapter up by 6/28. "Champion" is just a lot quicker and more enjoyable, at the moment.


	6. In which Jasper watches

“Fired,” Yellow Diamond murmured, a slow grin spreading across her lips. “You _have_ changed, Pink. But, since you seem to have forgotten,” she sighed, gesturing at Blue Diamond, “such a _final_ punishment is _still_ Blue’s prerogative.”

Within his bubble, Steven blinked. “Final...? No!” He held his hands up, the gesture expanding the bubble just enough to throw Blue Diamond’s hand back and out of the range of attack, right before the bubble popped. “No, it’s a figure of speech! It means she doesn’t work here anymore!”

“Ooooooh....” Yellow Diamond frowned. “Well. But perhaps if Blue—”

“No! No one is setting anyone on _fire!_ Or _crushing_ anyone,” Steven added, scowling at Blue Diamond, who still hovered, hand at the ready. “I just want her,” he gestured at Holly, “ _out_ of here!”

“She _attacked_ you,” Blue Diamond hissed, fist clenching..

“Sh...she attacked a human!” Steven argued, looking to the displaced agate, who was now backing away, eyes darting between her diamond and the outspoken creature who had either saved or ruined her (and, perhaps, both). “That’s what she thought, right? And none of _you_ had a problem attacking _me_ yesterday.”

“He does have a point,” White Diamond opined. “One can hardly blame an agate for performing her duties when kept in ignorance.”

Blue curled her lip, but, after a moment, sighed, standing tall once more. However, she held her head high, looking haughtily down her nose at the little agate trembling before her. “I suppose, in this _one_ instance, she _was_ trying to maintain order....”

“Y-yes, My Diamond,” Holly Blue stammered, clasping her hands before her chest. “Always, My Diamond! I always do my very _best_ as your most _loyal_ agate!”

“ _Loyal?_ ” Blue said, eyes narrowing. “And does a _loyal_ agate typically fail to report security breaches?”

Holly Blue went pale. “I...I...”

“You may have performed your duties by _attacking_ before you understood the situation,” Blue said, leaning down just a fraction, but seeming to loom large for that small motion, “but Pink Diamond has informed me of his _visit_ to this facility. You _withheld_ vital information! Information which could have put your court— _all_ our courts—in jeopardy!”

“What other choice did she have?” Steven interrupted, turning to look up at Blue Diamond. “You don’t let gems make _mistakes!_ ”

“Of course we don’t!” Blue Diamond shouted at the boy. “Mistakes mean a gem is _flawed!_ ”

“Well, can’t they _be_ flawed?”

“NO!”

The answer came so swiftly, so vehemently, that Steven took a step back, arm rising again, as if to summon his shield. But Blue Diamond made no move to attack either her student or her failure of a quartz.

“But....” Steven looked back over his shoulder, to the where Holly Blue Agate trembled. And then beyond to the thin jasper, who was just beginning to rise to her knees with the help of Carnelian, both of whom looked upon him with wide, confused eyes. “But she’s not...”

He turned and his eyes fell upon Jasper.

“She’s...not flawed.”

High above, Yellow Diamond snorted. “Demonstrably untrue,” she drawled.

“No!” Steven shouted once more, looking back to the diamonds, a sudden glint in his eyes and a wide grin on his face which Jasper found foreign, but which would become familiar to her in very short order. “She’s not flawed! When I left the Zoo, I told her not to tell anyone I’d been here, and she _followed_ my orders! Just like she should!”

At the claim, White Diamond’s brows shot up. Understanding had come over her, quick and clear. Slowly, while her fellows were still working through their puzzlement, she nodded and began to smile, a little light coming to her eyes to echo the boy’s own.

“What are you talking about?” Blue Diamond said, gesturing at her agate. “That she followed another gem’s orders—even another diamond’s—is even _worse_ than failing to follow mine!”

“Except they were _my_ orders!” Steven pointed out. “This is _my_ Zoo! Run by _my_ gems! Yellow Diamond, would you let one of Blue Diamond’s gems take over your armies?”

“S-she would _never_ ,” Yellow Diamond answered, looking to her sister, who nodded in quick confirmation.

Thrusting a finger at Blue Diamond’s face, Steven demanded, “So why did _you_ think it was okay to let one of _your_ gems order _mine_ around!?”

About the room, there was a chorus of gasps. Even the little yellow pearl had a moment of discomposure, a hand coming up to cover her mouth.

“I-I wasn’t—” Blue Diamond stammered, taking her hands out from her sleeves, holding them out, appealing to the small gem before her. “My intention wasn’t...I was just doing my best for your gems!”

Pausing, Steven turned his gaze upon Holly Blue Agate, who was looking between himself and her diamond with ever-widening eyes. But he only looked for a moment before turning back, upper lip curving into a pronounced sneer. “ _She_ was the _best_ you could do, Blue?”

A dark flush—nearly black—crossed over Blue Diamond’s cheeks. “I—”

“That’s what I thought,” Steven interrupted. “So let me make this clear: the only gem that did anything wrong here...is _you_.” He smirked, laying hands on his hips. “So you are going to get your agate _off_ my Zoo, and I’m going to try and _fix_ this.” Holding his arms out, he gestured at the entirety of the station. “And when I’m done, you can get started with teaching me the _law_.” Steven let out a soft laugh, turning his back on the diamonds. “If you can remember it.”

Blue Diamond continued stammering, reaching out to the retreating back of Pink Diamond. Whether she would ever have come up with something intelligent to say was uncertain, as White Diamond lay a gentle, thin-fingered hand on Blue’s shoulder, the touch enough to silence the unbalanced gem.

Steven had no attention to spare for his fellow diamonds, focusing instead on the thin jasper and her carnelian companion, who had finally come to their feet, and who were staring at him, each line of muscle tense.

“Can you—” Steven began, but paused, eyes darting over the two gems. There was a little shift in the skin under his jawline as he ground his teeth together, deep in thought. After some moments, he seemed to force his muscles loose again, putting on a small, awkward smile. He spoke to the Zoo gems, slow and gentle. “Please, could you two help me by gathering the rest of the gems in your room? The one you took my dad and me to? I would really appreciate it, if you would.”

The pair blinked, looking to each other. For guidance? For strength? For some sense of sanity in the suddenly changed world?

It was Carnelian who broke out of her paralysis, facing Steven and bringing her arms up to her chest, crossing them and tilting her wrists back. “Y-yes, My Diamond,” she said and, a second later, her jasper companion followed suit.

Steven jolted back and opened his mouth to respond, but, before he could do so, the two gems had spun about on their heels and sprinted down the halls.

Briefly, Holly Blue Agate scowled and opened her mouth to shout something after the quartzes, but soon seemed to recall that remaining unnoticed was in her best interests, and closed her mouth once more,

Sighing, Steven shook his head at the place where his gems had disappeared. “Alright...okay....” He shook his arms out, letting the tension release, at least some small fraction. Looking over his shoulder, he addressed Jasper and his feline companion. “Would you two like to come with?”

Lion made no answer, merely ambling to the boy’s side, leaning against him with enough force to send Steven staggering a moment. The boy laughed once he managed to steady himself, reaching up to scratch behind the big cat’s ears, eliciting a deep purr.

“They are going to love you, you big fuzzball,” Steven whispered, taking two large handfuls of pink mane and shaking the cat’s head, earning further nuzzles.

After some moments of shared affection, the boy noticed the silence, and looked back once more.

Jasper had barely noticed her diamond’s earlier address. She stared down the hallway, where the little orange gem had disappeared, chewing on her lower lip, canines nearly piercing the skin. She said nothing.

“...Jasper?”

The renewed voice of her diamond, addressing her directly, was enough to snap Jasper out of her reverie. She looked to the boy, lost.

“You...you can go back to the ship, if you want,” Steven said. “Or wait here? Or come along? Or...what do you want, Jasper?”

Jasper blinked. “What...” she began, but trailed off quickly. She looked down, brows drawn.

Resting before her—so close, how had she not noticed it before?—was the odd little replica of the carnelian, which the thin jasper had dropped during the agate’s assault. This close, Jasper could finally see that it was made out of some sort of fabric, but not made all too well, with uneven seams, long stitches, lopsided eyes, and a mouth that was puckered and...rather unsettling. Not a snarl befitting a quartz, but not any recognizable expression, either. The ends of the replica’s hair were charred from the electrical attack, and a seam on its right side had split, spilling forth stuffing.

Steven waited. Quiet and patient.

“I....” Jasper swallowed. Crouching, she reached out, gently scooping up the little, damaged thing, bringing it close to her chest so she could look into its imperfect face.

At Steven’s side, Lion let out a soft chuffing sound.

“I...I will follow,” Jasper said, and lifted her head up to meet Steven’s eyes. “My Diamond.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Champion [PODFIC]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16258934) by [Tomoyochan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tomoyochan/pseuds/Tomoyochan)




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